1. The Field of the Present Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to prostheses and more particularly, but not necessarily entirely, to knee joint prostheses and to a method of installing knee joint prostheses during a knee replacement surgery.
2. Description of Related Art
Knee joint replacement surgery involves replacing a knee joint with an artificial knee joint, referred to sometimes herein as a “prosthesis” or “implant.” Artificial knees may comprise a tibial component and a femoral component. To begin a knee joint replacement, a surgeon may make an incision on the front of the knee to allow access to the joint. Several different approaches may be utilized to make the incision. Once the knee joint is opened, the surgeon may prepare the end of the femur bone to receive the femoral component by making one or more cuts to the bone. A cutting guide may be utilized to ensure proper alignment. The femoral component may then be installed onto the end of the femur. The femoral component may replace the bottom surface of the femur bone and the groove where the patella sits.
Next, the surface of the tibia bone may be prepared for receiving the tibial component. In particular, the top of the tibia may be removed by the surgeon leaving a relatively flat surface. The tibial component may include a stem that is then inserted into the tibia. Bone cement may be utilized to secure the tibial component to the tibia. The tibial component may replace the top surface of the tibia bone. The tibial component may include a surface for receiving the femoral component. The surgeon may then close the incision.
Several shortcomings exist for the previously available tibial components. For example, the stem geometry for previously available tibial components have not been overly conducive to minimally invasive surgery (MIS). That is, previously available tibial components included stems that required extensive displacement of tissue during surgery in order to install the stems into the tibia bone. This extensive displacement of tissue led directly to increased patient recovery time.
Another shortcoming of previously available tibial components is that their design could lead to failure of the bond between the tibia component and the tibia. For example, some previously available tibial components included undercut cement grooves and channels that were utilized to anchor the components using bone cement. Disadvantageously, these grooves and channels produced non-uniform stress fields during in-vivo loading that loosened the tibial components from the tibia.
The prior art is thus characterized by several disadvantages that are addressed by the present disclosure. The present disclosure minimizes, and in some aspects eliminates, the above-mentioned failures, and other problems, by utilizing the methods and structural features described herein.
The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the present disclosure without undue experimentation. The features and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.